Holy and Righteous Job the Much-Contested in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. The Righteous Job was from the land of Ausitis, which lay on the borders of Idumea and Arabia, and he was one of the descendants of Esau, so that he was of the fifth generation from Abraham. His father was named Zareth and his mother Bosorra. He had been given the name Jobab and he prophesied for twenty-five years. He lived around 1925 B.C. The Lord bore witness concerning him that he was a righteous and blameless man and better than all the people of his generation; for this reason the devil asked God to test Job. Indeed, after the permission given to him by God, the devil stripped Job of all his possessions, afflicted him with dreadful and unbearable sores, and finally departed in shame, because the righteous man proved unbending and unyielding in all the assaults of temptation. At the end of his struggles, God Himself rewarded him and restored to him what is revealed in the account concerning him. After his trials he lived one hundred and seventy years, which means that altogether he lived two hundred and forty-eight years.

Venerable Sophia of Kleisoura in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. "Having been made wise by grace, O divine Sophia, you practiced asceticism wisely in Kleisoura."

The Venerable and God-bearing Mother Sophia, the rag-clad yet Spirit-filled ascetic of Kleisoura, was born in Ardasia of Pontus in 1883. After following the path of the refugees, following the incursion of the Hagarenes against her homeland and the loss of her husband and child, she came to Anarrachi of Eordaia. She longed for the ascetic life, and so she built her first hermitage at the Monastery of Saint Mark in Florina, where she remained for two years.

At the urging, however, of the Most Holy Theotokos, she settled in Her monastery located in Kleisoura of Kastoria, where she struggled in a God-pleasing manner for a full forty-seven years. Without even a bed to rest her earthly body, she endured the cold of winter, sitting near the hearth in the courtyard of the monastery, opposite the south door of the katholikon, gazing at the serene image of the Theotokos above its lintel.

Living simply, clothed in rags, and sometimes even feigning foolishness, she passed through her life. Constantly engaged in the prayer of the heart, she reached the heights of deification. She attracted richly the grace of the All-Holy Spirit and was deemed worthy of both clairvoyant and healing gifts. Always cheerful and approachable, she received visitors to the monastery, teaching them repentance and goodness of character. She foresaw her end and reposed in the Lord in holiness on May 6, 1974.

Her holy relics, which were translated and emitted fragrance, are preserved in the Sacred Monastery of Kleisoura, offering healing to the faithful. She was enrolled among the saints of the Church on October 4, 2011.

Venerable Seraphim of Mount Domvu in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Venerable Seraphim of Domvu in Livadeia was born in 1527 to pious and virtuous parents in a village of the region of Locris, called Zeli, where he was also taught the sacred letters.

Because he was of good character and studied diligently the sacred books of the Church, as well as the lives of the saints, he felt within his heart a divine love for the monastic life. For this reason he left his parents and relatives and set out in search of the salvation of his soul, which he longed for. After traveling through many places, both deserted and inhabited, and struggling in many ascetic contests — through which he was made worthy to receive from God even the grace of working miracles — he fell asleep in peace on May 6, 1602, in the monastery that bears his name. This monastery he himself built on the western slope of Mount Helicon, in a place called Domvu or Dontu, and there he also erected a most beautiful stavropegial church in the name of Christ the Savior.

He also received there many virtuous monks who longed for the wilderness and sought the salvation of their souls. In this monastery (in which, even while the Saint was still alive, he was glorified by God with His wonderworking grace, and where even now monks live who excel in virtue and holiness of life), his holy relics are preserved as a sacred treasure — confirmed by patriarchal sigils and attested by miracles. From these relics many people from various places daily receive healing grace as they invoke him, to the glory of God, who thus glorifies His saints.

Synaxis of the Icon of the Panagia Kamariani

The Sacred Icon of the Panagia Kamariani was discovered in a miraculous manner during the 19th century in the city of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor.

There lived there a pious Christian woman, to whom the Panagia appeared in a dream, in the form of a dignified woman dressed in black, telling her to leave her house because it belonged to her. The dream was repeated four times.

On the fourth occasion, the Mother of God revealed to her that her icon was buried inside the house and indicated the exact place where they should dig to find it. The woman searched for the icon and found it beneath an arch (kamara), and for this reason it was given the name “Kamariani.”

The discovery of the icon was followed by many miracles, and the inhabitants of Halicarnassus decided to build a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, where they placed the icon. Around the church there was a colonnade with many arches, which, according to another version, is what gave the icon its name. The church survives to this day, though in a state of abandonment.

Mid-Pentecost in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The somewhat forgotten and underestimated feast of Mid-Pentecost — especially by Christians of our time (in contrast to the Byzantine era, when it was celebrated with exceptional splendor, so much so that it was considered an imperial feast: the emperor himself would proceed in great procession, clothed in his royal vestments, to the Church of Saint Mokios, where the Patriarch awaited him in order to concelebrate the festive Divine Liturgy) — comes to present to us essential elements of our faith, without which we cannot truly be called Christians.

Beyond emphasizing the importance of the two great feasts it connects — the Resurrection and Pentecost — it proclaims in a powerful way the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet this is understood only to the extent that a person accepts it not theoretically or from a distance, but existentially and personally. That is, because the Lord is God who became man, He now functions as the center of human life. This means that after Christ, a person — of course, a believer — cannot live, move, speak, or think without taking Him into account. In other words, the Christian is (and must be) a Christ in the world, and every other person on earth should (and must) see Christ in his very existence. This is precisely the truth to which the Apostle Paul testifies, when he not only confesses that “Christ lives in him” as the center of his life, but also that every Christian constitutes “a letter of Christ to the world,” read by other people.

Prologue in Sermons: May 6

The Struggle Against Evil Thoughts is a Feat Worthy of Reward

May 6

(A spiritual remedy for the disturbance of thoughts.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Very often it happens, brethren, that evil desires and impure thoughts pursue us entirely apart from our will. How should we regard them in such a case? Are we responsible for them before God or not? We should consider it this way: if, upon careful reflection, we notice that we ourselves gave occasion for evil, blasphemous, and unclean thoughts to enter us, then we are certainly accountable for this before God; likewise we are responsible when we take pleasure in a thought that has entered us unwillingly, or sympathize with it. But if we have given no occasion for this evil to enter us, if we do not sympathize with it, and if with all the strength of our soul we struggle against the thoughts in order to drive them out, then not only are we not responsible, but we even deserve a reward for the struggle, and the fight against evil is reckoned to us as an ascetic feat.

Regarding the Canonization of Fr. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina

Regarding the canonization of Fr. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina by the Holy Synod of ROCOR, one should keep in mind that very few saints in the Orthodox Church have been canonized for what they wrote and what they said, and many have said and written some very disagreeable things that I would certainly never accept or defend, yet I still consider them acceptable or even great, but only because I know that the Church canonizes primarily based on their life and the model they set for other Christians, in one way or another. Sometimes its even for a brief moment in their life and one thing they said, like the thief on the cross. We even have someone we commemorate every year on April 1st who is probably one of the most evil men in the Old Testament, King Ahaz, who I think should be removed from the calendar, but as I have shown he was canonized because he feigned piety, and someone in their simplicity found this acceptable to include him in our calendar. When I was a teenager in the early 90s, I came across the life and writings of Fr Seraphim, and found them to be inspirational and enlightening, because he was a very American figure who came to Orthodoxy facing many challenges that I could relate to. As I grew older I came to have many disagreements with him on things, but I also realize he was a product of his time and his environment, like we all are and all the saints were, and he also died much younger than I am now, so who knows how his views on things may have changed if given the time I've been blessed with. But if there is something to be said in favor of his canonization, I would say that he struggled to the end to be the best Orthodox Christian he could be, and he took this very seriously. That's good enough for me... if only I could be the same. 

 

Encomium on the Great Euthymios, Bishop of Madytos (George of Cyprus) - 1 of 3

GEORGE OF CYPRUS

ENCOMIUM ON THE GREAT EUTHYMIOS, BISHOP OF MADYTOS

PUBLISHED BY VASILIOS ANTONIADIS [1]

From manuscript codex no. 363 of the “Synodal Library” in Moscow, the Russian Archimandrite Arseny published three years ago a noteworthy product of ecclesiastical rhetoric from the 13th century, the “Encomium on the Great Euthymius, Bishop of Madytos” (10th century), a work of George of Cyprus, later known under the monastic name Gregory,[2] Patriarch of Constantinople (1283–1289). This edition, accompanied also by a Russian translation, is not the first fruit of the scholarly labors of Father Arseny; and anyone who almost daily finds him in the Synodal Library diligently engaged in copying ancient codices readily acknowledges that the venerable servant of the Church has chosen the good portion.

Despite the voluminous and costly editions already produced, there still remains no small amount of work toward the preparation of a complete and critically reliable edition of the “Greek Patrology.” Not only are there still many unpublished works preserved in libraries of both East and West, but even the text of those already published does not in all respects meet the demands of critical scholarship. For this reason, we ought gladly and gratefully to welcome every effort, even one that contributes only a little to this completion.

Homily on the Fourth Sunday After Pascha (St. Innocent of Kherson)

Homily on the Fourth Sunday After Pascha
 
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride

“In these (porches) lay a great multitude of the sick—blind, lame, paralyzed—waiting for the moving of the water” (John 5:3).

It is not surprising that by the Pool of Siloam there was a very great number of the sick: for in it there acted the power of God, yet its action was very limited. Not many angels descended into the pool, but only one: “an angel of the Lord” (John 5:4). And that one angel did not descend every day, but only once a year. And once a year he descended not upon all the streams of the Siloam spring, but upon one principal one: “he went down into the pool.” Moreover, not everyone who entered the pool after the troubling of the water received healing, but only the one who entered it first: “and whoever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was made well” (John 5:4).

But can we, brethren, fail to marvel when we find a multitude of the sick at the Christian pool, at the pool of grace, of which the Pool of Siloam was only a faint image? Here it is not one angel, but the whole choir of the purest spirits, together with the Son of God Himself and the Holy Spirit, who descend to earth to give healing to the suffering; here it is not one pool that pours forth healing, but, one may say, as many pools as there are diseases and as there are the sick; here the fountain of life is not opened once a year, but, having once flowed forth from the pierced side of the Redeemer, it flows through all times and ages; here not only the one who comes first receives healing, but all — from the first to the last — whoever and whenever they may come. And yet, if we judge by the number of those healed in proportion to the abundance of the remedies given, the Christian pool heals fewer sick than the Pool of Siloam.